It's Not My Fault
by Lonely in Russia
Summary: Jack/Ralph slash. The boys are on the island, set to the events of the book, just with fluffy stuff in between


Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, or any of William Golding's creation.

It's Not My Fault

Chapter One - Placing the blame

Jack sauntered across the beach and towards the huts, his footsteps leaving a pattern in the smooth dry sand. As he heard a faint singing voice, humming inaudible words, he knew that Ralph would be there and the elder boy smiled as he thought of how predictable their leader was, it would make things a lot easier later on, he could already tell.

"Mornin'" Jack announced cheerfully as he swung over a tree branch into the centre hut. "Heard your singing half way down the beach, nearly frightened the life out of me." He tried to sound traumatised but it was wasted on the scowling Ralph. 

"Nearly?" He spat whilst raising one eyebrow.

"Well, I don't get frightened of course." Jack smiled; it was the type of smile that always makes you want to hit the person although you know that there isn't a justified reason for doing so.

"Of course." Ralph muttered as he turned away and busied himself by collecting up empty coconut shells. Jack pulled a fake hurt look and placed himself in front of Ralph, vaguely making the other jump a little at the unexpected presence.

"There's no need to be so bitter you know, you've only got yourself to blame." Jack sighed as he said this and folded his arms as if making an impeccable statement that couldn't be faulted or contradicted. 

Ralph dropped the shells he was holding and stared at Jack, his mouth open in shock and his face reddening with anger.

"Myself?!" He screamed, "It's not my fault they all ran off! It's your fault as well! Taking all the bigguns like that, you had no right to!"

"Oh hush." Jack replied, "You gave me the choir, they're mine, not yours. And anyway, like they would have gotten anything done, they only take orders from leaders." His smile turned into a stubborn frown and look of scorn. He knew what he had said wasn't true but it was worth it if Ralph was going to get angry. 'Always worth it.' He mused to himself.

Ralph hissed at Jack. "Why are you always so bloody annoying?" 

Jack didn't allow him to add anything to this statement as he took him in his arms and kissed Ralph gently on the lips. Ralph moaned and the words that he had been about to say were lost amidst whimpers of pleasure. Jack pulled away and held the other boy in his arms.

"Come now, you're not the most benevolent person I know either." He felt Ralph chuckle slightly, even though he could not hear it.

"Sorry." Was all he replied.

*********************************************************************

One by one the boys filed into the meeting space, stomachs full from the meet that they had just eaten, and many of them praising Jack and the hunters for their good job.

Ralph stared around the group of boys, 'this meeting is going to be a disaster' he thought. By the animated looks on the boys' faces, none of them were going to want to sit still for very long, and that was never a good thing.

He cleared his throat and began to speak, making sure that nobody was talking at the same time he was.

"We need to have a meeting to discuss the fire." He paused and looked around. Only a few boys showed a look that Ralph loosely interpreted as 'vaguely interested'. "You were all here when I said we had to keep it going." Various groans arose as they realised what they were going to be submitted to for the next ten minutes. Ralph coughed.

"But you let it out!" He exclaimed. "There was a ship, we could have been rescued, but no. You wanted food and you wanted it now. You didn't even think that if we were rescued, we could be on our way home to three full meals a day, did you? No, because you don't think like that. You're all too lazy to put the effort in and you think that means that you don't have any responsibility." Numerous cries of disagreement were heard but Ralph silenced them with his hand.

"Well, you're wrong. All of us here have a responsibility whether we like it or not." The blood was pumping in his veins, he was really angry now. He growled at Piggy who had his hands stretched out for the conch, but then another look at Piggy's face changed his mind and he handed him the shell.

"Ralph's right," he said but was stopped from saying any more when the choir emitted a large number of 'woos' and catcalls. Jack turned round and muttered something to them that made them shut up immediately. 

Ralph smiled a fairly good guess of what Jack may have said to them running in his mind. Anything along the lines of 'if you don't shut up I will cut your throats' would have been vaguely correct.

Ralph nodded at Piggy to continue.

"You chose Ralph as chief and now you 'as to listen to him. Otherwise, there won't have been no good reason for the vote. He's the only one, who can lead us, because he's the only one with ideas. Jack's lot are only good at hunting and killing, no use at all." 

At this, half of the choir stood up, shouting and yelling at how unfair this was. Soon, most of the boys had stood up and were arguing and many had resorted to throwing punches. Only five boys remained seating; Ralph, Piggy, Simon, Roger and Jack, all had serious looks on their faces. Ralph looked helplessly at jack, a pleading in his eyes. Jack stared at him for a moment and then nodded and stood up.

He bellowed above the din and immediately every boy sat down, scared of the boy.

"SIT DOWN NOW!" He yelled and smiled as they obeyed him.

"Ralph is your chief and you will listen to him," He shouted angrily. "Whether you like what he has to say or not. Understood?" There was a faint murmur around the boys and they all looked up at Jack with a new respect and liking, this boy was good, he was a proper leader. As it dawned on Jack what they were saying, he felt good; they liked HIM not Ralph. But another part of him, the part that was loyal to Ralph caused him to turn around and look at the boy. He was met with a look of coldness and hatred and before he could reach out to say sorry, Ralph had disappeared into the forest, with an air that blatantly warned the others not to follow him.

'Bugger' Jack thought as he turned back to face the boys.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After all the boys had fallen asleep, Jack crept on his hands and knees into the forest, careful not to wake Roger who was a light sleeper.

He once again blessed Ralph for being so predictable as he walked straight to where he knew he would be.

But he wasn't. Jack looked suspiciously around the clearing to the cove and then again in confusion. Ralph had to be here, he always was! Somewhat baffled, Jack sat down cross-legged and silently thought of where Ralph might be. This didn't help as no images sprung to mind he could only see Ralph, and the surrounding was too insignificant to matter.

A hand on his shoulder startled him and he turned around, only to be met with those eyes that he loved so much. Ralph pulled Jack into an embrace and held him, softly swaying the two of them as Jack said, 

"I knew you'd be here."

Ralph laughed.

"Do you remember the first time?" Jack nodded into Ralph's shirt, not wanting to say anything.

"It was a beautiful night" Ralph continued "do you remember how dark it was, but how we seemed to glow." Jack once again said nothing but only tightened his grip around Ralph who was holding him in a protective position. Ralph pulled him closer.

"I remember your face as I brought you to your release." He whispered softly, gently stroking Jack's tangled hair.

"You were beautiful my love." Jack smiled and pulled away slightly to look up at Ralph. He spoke, his voice nothing more than a breath of air on the wind,

"I love you." 

Ralph smiled down and rearranged them both so that Jack was leaning back against him.

"Go to sleep my love." He said and Jack did, nestling into the warmth that Ralph's arms offered. Ralph stayed awake all night, gazing down at the one he loved. It would be an eternity before they did this again, because things were breaking up, and they were strong enough to break them up.


End file.
